Mayor of West Virginia town faces criminal charges in Bexar County

Richard Edwards moved from San Antonio to the town of Buckhannon, West Virginia, about 14 years ago and he became mayor in 2014. Two warrants for his arrest are still active in Bexar County for misdemeanor and felony charges of possession of marijuana.

Photo: Photo courtesy of Richard Edwards

Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the quaint town of Buckhannon, West Virginia, didn’t have much in common with San Antonio until Richard Edwards moved there from the Alamo City, ran for the city council two years ago and later became mayor.

“We moved up here just because San Antonio was getting too dangerous,” explained Edwards, 50, who said he was concerned about crime rates where he lived 14 years ago on San Antonio’s Northeast Side.

But Edwards is facing old criminal charges of his own in Bexar County, and some West Virginia residents are outraged that he’s serving as mayor while two warrants for his arrest are still active for misdemeanor and felony charges of possession of marijuana.

“It’s absolutely crazy,” said David Taylor, a critic who lives in the nearby town of French Creek and has written Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office for assistance. “You can’t make this stuff up.”

The most serious charge against Edwards stemmed from a search of a home in the 100 block of Starlight Terrace where Edwards was living on June 6, 2001. Officers with the Alamo Area Narcotics Task Force found 16 marijuana plants and drug paraphernalia, according to a police report.

“The defendant was the sole adult supervising three small children and stated no one was available to take care of the children,” the report stated. “Edwards was allowed to remain at the residence and advised charges would be filed at large.”

A Bexar County grand jury indicted Edwards on April 10, 2002 on a charge of possessing less than five pounds of marijuana, a state jail felony punishable by 180 days to two years in jail.

Around that same time, Edwards moved his family from San Antonio. He said the marijuana plants weren’t his and he didn’t learn about the felony indictment until a background check in West Virginia years later turned up the outstanding warrants.

“Bexar County never has contacted me to this day about this incident,” said Edwards, who insisted he didn’t flee San Antonio to escape justice.

“There were a lot of drugs and gang activity over there,” Edwards said of his old neighborhood. “I had nothing to do with any of that.”

Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood said his office hasn’t sought Edwards’ extradition because prosecutors must weigh the severity of the offense and Edwards wasn’t charged with a violent crime.

LaHood said Edwards could be arrested if he returned to Texas. But Edwards said he has no plans to return to Bexar County and he disputes any description of himself as a fugitive.

“It’s not as though I’m in hiding,” he said.

For the lesser misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana, Edwards said he was at a party where police officers found a marijuana joint near Edwards and his friends.

“I was at party, and we were being belligerent to the police, and on the ground happened to be what was left of a joint,” Edwards said. “And they couldn’t determine who it belonged to and we weren’t being cooperative.” Edwards said the warrant was filed because of an unpaid fine.

The active warrants were public knowledge in Buckhannon, population 5,600, when Edwards ran for a seat on the city council in May 2014. He narrowly defeated his opponent for the office of city recorder, which is effectively the council’s second-in-command behind the mayor.

“I am indignant,” said McCauley, who said Edwards forced him out as city attorney after 32 years. McCauley is now running against Edwards in the May 10 mayoral election. He doesn’t buy Edwards’ claim that he was unaware of the felony charge.

Local media outlets haven’t shied away from covering the controversy surrounding Edwards. The State Journal in West Virginia published a story about the warrants, and the Mountaineer Journal questioned Edwards’ claim that he attended the University of Texas at Austin and the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

Whether a majority of Buckhannon voters care will be decided in the May election. Edwards called the controversies a political witch hunt and said the district attorney’s office in Bexar County “isn’t very concerned” about him.

“The truth of the matter is, I wasn’t aware of it,” Edwards said of the charges. “I want to resolve it. We all want to resolve it. But it’s not a top priority in this case. If I don’t get elected, what difference does it make?”

LaHood said he can’t justify spending the time and money to extradite a nonviolent offender. But that doesn’t mean he’s lost interest in the case if Edwards ever returns to Texas.

“I get it. He’s playing the political game,” LaHood said of Edwards’ comments about the warrants and witch hunts. “This guy thinks a little bit too much of himself.”

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